


Misplaced Faith

by Bad_Stygian



Series: Like A Dark Paradise side stories [2]
Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Alastor Being a Jerk (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor is in Hell for a Reason (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor's arrival, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Violence, Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Demons, Gen, Generation Gap, I'm Bad At Tagging, Magic, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Murder, Origin Story, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prequel, Renaissance meets Roaring 20s, Side Story, Some Humor, Swearing, Tags May Change, This is a prequel to Like A Dark Paradise so read at your own risk, Voodoo, Witchcraft, culture clash, minor gore, some spoilers to the main story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:06:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25851049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bad_Stygian/pseuds/Bad_Stygian
Summary: Madame Aura was known to be a highly skilled witch doctor in all of Hell that also practiced witchcraft and studied modern medicine. Despite this, she rarely gets patients. When word was going around about a demon going on an onslaught, the witch doctor couldn’t help but become curious about this demon. Who knows? This demon may be of use to her…[This story takes place before the events of “Like A Dark Paradise” on how Aura met Alastor. You are free to read this story by itself, but it may contain spoilers in the main story. If you don’t wish to be spoiled, please read “Like A Dark Paradise” before reading this story.]Listen to the official playlist onSpotify!
Series: Like A Dark Paradise side stories [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529804
Kudos: 7





	1. The Radio

**Author's Note:**

> There may be a bit of origin stuff that _may_ be inaccurate only because I'm going off by my interpretations on a few things. And since this is considered a prequel, I have to go by what canon material I'm able to work with and just guess. Please be gentle with me on this one.
> 
> Also, this one will not update as often as my main story. Reason being is that certain parts of this story might be considered a spoiler for the main story. After a certain part from "Like A Dark Paradise" has been posted, then I can continue on with this story.

Hell was a place where sinners go in the afterlife. If you have done a great amount of evil in your life, your soul was condemned and you were forever trapped in the fiery depths of hell. In the case of Madame Aura, she found it more to her benefit than a drawback. She knew the price for practicing witchcraft but she didn't mind. Centuries after her death, she became a better witch doctor with extensive knowledge of medicine. Her powers also grew overtime, which soon drew attention to her and her abilities. Many demons and sinners sought her out for her magic as well as medical aid. Unfortunately, Madame Aura was not the type to be reasoned with. Her knowledge in magic and medicine was a resourceful and dangerous thing. If misused, it could lead to potential disaster. Which was why she would often turn them away if she knew their true intent. Not only that, she doesn't accept money as payment. Money was of no use to her; instead she bargained and traded. Most of the newer generation of demons wouldn't know of it. 

Demons nowadays, she would often say.

Aura stood near her desk, reading on a spell from one of her books she has recently acquired. It held some interesting things about summons and transformations. It could be very useful for her to learn. Especially when she wants to make easy travel to areas where she can collect plants and crystals. Most of the things she needs are within distance from her house. However, she hardly leaves due to being absorbed in her work. That and being a forest witch is not always a good benefit for her. 

The witch doctor heard a few quick knocks on the door and answered, "Come in." She glanced over her shoulder to see her fairly tall granddaughter entering the room while carrying a small radio in her arms. "Ah, Merryl," Aura said with a warm smile. “What brings you here, child?”

"Oh hello, Grandmother!" Merryl greeted as she walked over to the deer demon. “I found something you might like while I was cleaning out the place. Look!” She held out a vintage radio to her grandmother with a grin.

“What is that?” Aura asked, puzzling over the unusual device.

"This is what they call a 'radio'," Merryl explained. "It plays all sorts of things like music through 'electricity'."

Aura stared at the granddaughter with a questioning look. She always knew that her eccentric granddaughter, Merryl, has always had an eye for interesting things. Whenever she learns something new outside her own era, she would often compile them all to a letter and send it to Aura. Most of them were rather long and she would have to take her time reading it. It's nice to know how Merryl is enjoying herself. Although, it was a bit annoying for Aura.

"I figured it might help liven the place up a bit," Merryl explained.

The witch doctor turned away from the fiery red-head and went back to her reading. “Hmph! I don’t need that rubbish. Give it to someone else.”

“Huh?! But Grandmother! Doesn’t it get a little boring having to be in total silence all the time?” she asked.

“For Solomon’s sake, Merryl, I live in a forest. Plus, as a forest witch, one must form a connection with the surroundings around them without having any forms of distraction whatsoever.”

“You’ve been doing that for the past four hundred years now,” Merryl argued. “Isn’t it about time you took a break from traditional customs for once?” The granddaughter held the radio out still in her hands with a smile. “Just try it, pleeeeeease? You’ll enjoy it.”

Aura took a glance at Merryl’s pleading face then at the vintage radio in her hands. She must be really eager to persuade her into using it. She understood her reason behind it. Ever since the beginning of the twentieth century, Merryl has dreamed of venturing outside of the forest to discover things that were not yet invented during their time. She wanted to learn and experience the ever-changing city life. After moving out from Aura’s household, everything became a bit more lonelier without her granddaughter around. She has gotten used to the silence after some time, but she couldn't help but miss having her around to teach her magic. Merryl tries to visit her as often as she could to make her grandmother feel less lonely. Unfortunately, because of how much of a long way it was from the city to the forest, it wasn’t possible to do so. Instead, she limited her visits to twice a month to make things more manageable for her. The “radio”, as Merryl would call it, would hopefully help ease the feeling of loneliness and take her worries off of her mind.

After some consideration, Aura lets out a sigh and smiled at her lovely granddaughter. “Oh alright,” she said. “I’ll use it if it makes you happy.”

Merryl’s face was practically beaming with happiness. She quickly sets aside the radio to hug the smaller deer demon tightly in her arms. “Oh thank you, Grandmother!” she cried out happily.

“Ack! Yeah. No problem.”

...

Later on, Merryl showed Aura how to turn the radio on and how to use it. It took a lot of thorough explaining for the witch doctor to understand the functions of it completely. Eventually after a few hours of puzzlement, Aura somehow managed to figure out most of how the radio works. When it was time for Merryl to leave, Aura handed her a hand-woven basket of mixed fruits and vegetables hand-picked from her small garden as well as two large wheels of her favorite cheese. She also included sliced loaves of bread and a small potted plant for her granddaughter’s place. The red-headed demon often enjoyed receiving Aura’s parting gifts. To her, it was like being back home in the forest with her grandmother. Nothing beats the taste of her well-grown organic fruits and vegetables and her homemade cheeses. It’s the one thing Merryl loved more than anything in Hell.

The tall red-headed deer demon then thanked Aura with a smile for the lovely hand basket. Aura returned the smile and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Shortly after, she watched Merryl exit out of the house, bidding her farewell and safe travels. Madame Aura hated seeing her precious granddaughter leave, but she knew she couldn’t keep her in the forest forever. She wholly supports Merryl’s decision to move into the city and learn about the new things there. She wanted her to be happy with whatever she chooses to do.

Aura turned towards the radio on her counter. Ah yes. She almost forgot that thing was still there. Even though she has figured out most of its mechanics, she was still wary of the unusual contraption.

“Right then,” she said out loud to herself. “Let’s see what you can do.”

She turned on the radio just as Merryl has shown her, fiddling with the switch on the back of the radio. Upon turning the radio on, Aura became spooked by the jarring static noise. She immediately fled behind the counter with her deer-like ears drooped. She then peeked over the surface of the counter, staring down at the noisy radio with a grimace.

“Bloody hell,” she muttered. “She could have at least warned me about the sound. How am I supposed to work with this?”

Carefully, she crept over to the screeching device, reaching for one of the knobs to give it a slight twist. Unbeknownst to her, the deer demon twisted the wrong knob, resulting in amplifying the terrible sound. Goddammit. Why is it so hard to do one simple thing?

Aura quickly went for the other knob and turned it until the static noise was replaced with the sound of voices through the speakers. Thankfully, she didn’t have to deal with that dreadful noise for the time being. However, she grew more curious by the second as she peered over the counter. Her ears flopped and twitched a few times, displaying interest in this unusual radio.

“Hello?” she spoke as if she was talking directly to it. “Can anyone hear me?”

The radio didn’t answer back. However, she could still hear the voices through it. Strange. Is the radio like some sort of magical communication device? How can she hear them but they can’t hear her? She will have to experiment with it a little while longer until she can properly figure out how to use it.

…

For the next few days, Aura busied herself with work as usual while she slowly adapted to having the vintage radio around. She had to move it out of the way to make room for her larger batches. At first, she wasn’t fond of this strange device. Aura mostly found it very distracting, often telling it to quiet down while she’s concentrating on a mixture. Of course, she then remembers that she could manually turn down the “volume” of the radio. How silly of her. After a while of toggling and tinkering with the device, she grew accustomed to it. Aura still finds it a nuisance, but it was a decent distraction for her.

Often at times when she grows tired of the current broadcast it was on, the deer demon would custom-set a station with a flick of her wrist. She was quite fond of folk music back in her time; it somehow gave her a sense of nostalgia just listening to it. Sometimes, she would break into a dance while she’s working. The memories of when she danced to the music back in fifteenth century Great Britain came rushing into her mind. It was such a simple yet lively time during the 1400s. Even though Madame Aura was loyal to no country, she does miss being in her homeland.

Everything seemed to be calm and remote as time went on. That is until a few weeks later.

While she was studying up on a few transformation spells, the radio that was playing suddenly became disrupted by some sort of interference. She couldn’t tell what was causing it, but that didn’t bother her very much. If she waited long enough, then it would fix itself. At least that’s what Merryl has told her. Just when Aura was about to go back to her reading, she heard a muffled and eerie voice speaking from the radio.

 _[“Greetings, fellow citizens of Hell!”]_ the strange voice began with much enthusiasm. _[“We interrupt your favorite program to bring forth a very special broadcast just for you! A one of a kind, the first of its kind broadcast directed to all of the easygoing listeners in Hell!]_

Well, this seems to be interesting, she thought. Her attention was now directed at the radio on her counter, her ears perked upward towards the voice on the radio.

_[“I hope this broadcast entertains you more than I find it entertaining! Hahahaha!]_

Aura picked up the book from her counter and moved it to where the radio was. She then found a nearby stool and dragged it to the counter where her book was and took a seat.

 _[“Looks like we found ourselves our very first contender!”]_ they said eagerly. _[“Excuse me, good sir. How would you like to go? I can make it quick and easy if you like!”]_

 _[“What are you talking about?”]_ the other voice asked in confusion. _[“And what did you mean by--”]_ They were immediately cut off by the sickening snap followed by the shrilling sounds of their own screams.

 _[“Oh pull yourself together!”]_ the main voice laughed. _[“You’re going to disappoint my listeners! That was barely a scratch!]_

 _[“You broke my arm in half!”]_ the other voice argued. _[“How the hell is that a scratch?!”]_

_[“Well, it looks like I’m going to go with the latter after all. Disembodiment it is then. My personal favorite!”]_

The other demon pleaded for their life, only to have it brushed off. Seconds later, they screamed out in agony as they begged for them to stop. The voice laughed psychotically, telling the other to stay still as he continued their deadly assault. Nothing but the sounds of flesh tearing from the body boomed over the speakers of the radio. The blood-curling sounds of bones being crushed and ripped apart from the body. The agonizing screams soon subsided into a gurgling mess. The unknown voice gave out a well amused laugh followed by one final sickening crush of another body part. 

Aura’s ears twitched and pivoted frontwards, highly intrigued by this broadcast. Everything about it seems so genuine and well scripted. And the acting made everything seem so believable. However, her only critique about it is the delivery of that one line. It could use some work. Not to mention, how over the top the screams were. That could surely use some work.

 _[“Let’s see if there’s more cretans lurking about at this hour, shall we?”]_ the voice announced in a chipper tone. _[“Perhaps they would be more of an entertaining spectacle than the last one.”]_

As the strange broadcast continued, Aura had a sudden spark of inspiration. Something about it made her want to create new medicines and spells. The witch doctor instantly darted out of her seat, wasting no time searching for a notebook and pen. Her notebook and pen were usually within reach when it’s convenient. Although, this time around, they were nowhere to be found.

She stood near the spot she had searched in slight frustration. “Splendid,” she sighed.

Aura hated resorting to magic when it came to trivial things like this. In this particular case, she had no other options. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then exhaled and calmly spoke out the words in a clear voice.

“ _Ostende erratur._ ”

She waited a few seconds before opening her eyes again with a causal smirk. She knew her spell worked from the moment she turned back around to her counter. From afar, she could see two items giving off their own glowing color. The items she was searching for. Aura hurried over to the glowing items to collect the pen and notebook before going back to her seat.

As the peculiar and somewhat morbid broadcast continued, Aura jolted down a few things that occurred to her at the moment. She made a quick pause in the middle of her writing, muttering a few things to herself quietly before resuming.

 _["It would seem that you didn't have much of a 'stomach' to bear such grueling agony!"]_ the voice laughed before proceeding to literally rip out one of the unfortunate demon's bleeding organs. That same demon screamed with a mixture of fear, pain, and shock.

"Hmm.. A herb to treat nausea…" she mumbled, disregarding the morbid use of the pun. "Indigestion… reduced vomiting… What if I used this with a hint of ginger and a bit of rosemary?"

The witch doctor jolted down a few recipes in her notebook. She managed to list a few things but she was also lacking a few ideas for spells.

_["Whoops! Looks like I accidentally took his head off along with his spine. Guess he couldn't keep his head in the game! Ahahaha! There's plenty more where that came from, ladies and gentlemen!"]_

How long is the broadcast supposed to last, she wondered. It would seem that it's lasting longer than she would have expected. Aside from that, an idea that occurred to her while she was writing.

"Wait a moment," she said. "Head… memory loss… projection…" A sudden moment of realization hit her and began to jolt down a single verse. While writing, she recited the verse to herself in Latin, making a few corrections along the way. "Maybe I can use this spell to look into a person's memory or dreams?"

From there, the deer demon listened to the broadcast on the radio while writing down any key words and phrases that she picked up in her notebook. She paid no attention to the horrid screams and the demon’s maniacal laughter; she just focused on the writing. It gave her a lot of ideas and possible things to experiment with. An inspiration in a bizarre way. After a few minutes of agonized screaming of the countless demons, the voice on the radio then announces that the broadcast is now over and that he will be looking forward to his next broadcast. The voice then bids his listeners a farewell, but not before leaving his final message.

 _[“ **Stay tuned…** ”]_ The demon lets out a dark chuckle before cutting off the transmission feed.

There was a bit of a distorted interference in the feed before it eventually subsided to its original program station. Aura was a bit disappointed that the program ended so soon. Although, something about it seemed oddly strange. She had no idea what it was just yet. Perhaps when Merryl comes back for another visit, she’ll have to ask her about it.


	2. Unknown

Several weeks later after the first broadcast, Madame Aura spent most of her time creating the recipes she has written down in her notebook. Some she managed to make successfully on the first try while the others needed a bit of a modification on the ingredients. Creating medicines takes a lot of time, patience, and concentration. Especially when it comes to the usage of herbs, plants, and occasionally minerals. Spells, however, take even more time to perfect. Since she focused more on making medicine, perfecting her spells was less of a priority to her even though Aura was considered to be a powerful witch.

Whenever the unusual broadcast began to play over the radio, the witch doctor would ensure to have a pen and notebook close by to take some notes. She didn't particularly mind the grotesque and gory scenes that played through the radio, she only cared about taking notes. At times when there's not a lot of dialogue, Aura would work on making mixtures and serums for her medicine.

One day while Aura reworked the ingredients of the medicine, she heard her granddaughter, Merryl running into the house in a panic. The red-headed deer demon braced herself against the door, trying to calm her heavy and erratic breathing. Aura turned her head towards her, seeing her in her casual beige dress and jacket attire this time around. The boater straw hat she constantly wore now completely disheveled to the side upon her alarmed entry.

"Merryl? What has gotten you all spooked?" she asked out of curiosity. It was fairly rare to see her frightened like this. In fact, fear is more or less a forgotten instinct for her.

"Some nutcase showed up in Pentagram City and started killing off demons left and right!" she explained in a huff. "I had to sneak past the guy to even leave the city intact! But somehow, he spotted me from a distance!"

"Really now?" Aura walked over to another counter with the batch of the medicine in her hand. She then sets it down before turning to the panicked female. "And I should be concerned about it because…?"

"Oh come on, Grandmother!" Merryl cried. “Don’t you even care about what happens to me?! I’m just thankful that he let me live for now!”

"Merryl, don't be ridiculous," she sighed. "Of course I care. I’m just confused about how one demon can make you this anxious. You fought demons and creatures more terrifying than the one you just encountered.”

"B-but--!" Merryl whined and pouted to her grandmother, seeing that she was ridiculing her.

Not wanting to hear any more of her granddaughter's insane excuses, Aura held up a bucket of animal feed to her in an insistent manner. Merryl glanced down at the smaller deer demon in confusion, cocking her head slightly as she stared at the bucket. "Since you're already here, why don't you go feed the deer outside? It's around their lunchtime," Aura requested.

Instead of answering, Merryl simply stared at her grandmother with a pouty look on her face. To her, it would seem that she didn't want to go outside and she knew the reason why.

After a few seconds of staring in silence, Aura then lowered the bucket feed down to her waist and gave out a heavy sigh. "Are you bloody kidding me? Are you that spooked to the point where you can't even leave the house?"

The taller deer demon averted her gaze away from Madame Aura, tugging her hat down in shame. "... would you be mad if I was being honest?"

"Bloody hell, child." She made a facepalm at her alleged answer. Although, she can't be completely mad at her after what she has experienced back in the city. Maybe she should be a little more considerate and give her a bit of leeway. "Would it put your mind at ease if I came out there with you?" she suggested.

When Merryl lifted her hat back up from her face, her uneasy expressions eased into a calmer one. She simply stared at the smaller deer demon with a small frown.

“Come along, child,” Aura sighed, guiding her to the door. She stopped right next to the door, waiting for her granddaughter to follow. She watched Merryl take a few small cautious steps towards her before going outside. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, dearie. Nothing can hurt you out here.”

Aura took a few steps away from the house with the bucket in her hand. The red-headed deer demon stood quietly by the door, watching her grandmother from a distance. Merryl was still a bit on edge as she kept her eyes on her surroundings. That being from the city could be anywhere. She didn’t get a very good look of his face, but she could definitely make out the absurd amount of red he was wearing along with the unmistakable eerie glow in his eyes. Something about him seemed very unsettling and perhaps overwhelming to even her. Whatever it is, she fears that this demon’s powers could easily rival her grandmother’s.

The witch doctor surveyed the area around her for any deer in the area. Right away, a small herd of them attentively peeked out from behind several clusters of trees. Some began to slowly approach her, only stopping to observe the deer demon from a reasonable distance. Their ears pivoted and twitched as they stood in silence, awaiting the sound that signaled their feeding time. Aura smiled and tapped a sturdy branch against the bucket of feed in her hand.

“Come here, lovelies!” she called. The herd of deer almost simultaneously galloped over to her. Some that were not as well noticed also rushed over to her for food. “ _Venez faire servir votre nourriture!_ ”

Aura sprinkled the feed in front of them in an even spread, watching them take small nibbles of their food on the ground. More deer approached her from afar, wanting to partake in the small feast. Two or three young fawns strolled up to her, nudging her legs with their heads for food. She backs away from them with a laugh, telling them that there’s food behind them. Of course, these were younglings; they would rather have the deer demon hand-feed them. Having expected much from the young fawns, she took out an apple from the bucket and the fawns urgently stood up on their hind legs to reach for it.

“Hey, hey, hey! Wait a moment!” She raised the apple out of their reach while she held the handle of the bucket in her hand. One took advantage of Aura’s situation and went into the bucket feed while she was focused on the two fawns. The moment she noticed the sudden shifted weight in her hand, she pulled the bucket away from the fawn eating from it.

“Merryl! Help!” she called out.

Unfortunately for her, Merryl was laughing from the sidelines as she watched Aura getting swarmed and overtaken by the small herd around her.

“Merryl, stop laughing and help!”

More of the deer began to crowd her trying to get to the remaining feed inside the bucket. Eventually, the herd managed to topple Aura down on her bottom, causing her to spill the rest of the food on the ground. The deer demon made a loud, exasperated sigh while a pair of deer licked her face as a way of consoling her. Aura was a little upset about the deer making her spill the food, but she couldn’t stay mad at them for very long. They were like her children.

“Need some help?” Merryl laughed as she went over to the herd of deer. She picked up the apples off of the ground and set them aside on a tree stump.

“A little late for that, don’t you think, **_Merle_**?” she huffed bitterly.

“Hey, don’t say my name like that!” the redhead moaned. “It’s embarrassing!”

…

The two deer demons were about done feeding the deer aside from several mishaps here and there. Because the two share some similar traits of a deer (Merryl having a deer tail and Aura having deer-like ears and legs), the animals tend to get too curious with them. A few of them would try to groom Aura’s legs, thinking that she was some sort of weird humanoid deer. One even bit Merryl’s tail, not knowing that it _was_ her tail.

Aura sat near one of the counters, picking off the dead leaves and twigs out of her long hair, muttering a few things to herself in French. Meanwhile, Merryl was cleaning up around the house, making sure to not knock anything over while doing so. She would hate to get scolded by her if she were to break any of her samples or containers.

“Hey, do you mind if I turned on the radio for a bit?” Merryl asked her grandmother.

“Sure. By all means, child.” Aura continued to comb her fingers through her hair, feeling for any stray bits of leaves or twigs that she may have missed.

Merryl went over to the counter where the radio was and switched it on, turning it to a different station. She then smiled when she found the desired station to listen to. The slow and mellow sounds of brass instruments and string music played through the radio, quickly filling the lingering silence in the room. Aura’s ears dropped down upon the unusual and peculiar sounds playing through the device.

“Ugh. What _is_ that?” she questioned in disgust.

“Oh! It’s called ‘jazz’!” Merryl laughed as she continued to clean up around the house. “It’s not like the music we were used to back in our days, but it’s fairly different and has a soothing tone to it.”

“It sounds like constant diarrhea. Is this what the newer generation has been doing for the past few centuries?”

The red-headed deer demon swept the piles of trash and dirt onto the dustpan before dumping them into the nearest trash bin. Afterwards, she strolled over to the counter and leaned her back against the edge of it with her arms crossed. “The newer generation is a bit weird in their own way,” she began. “But you gotta admit that they know how to make stuff interesting after some given time.”

“If you ask me, they have way too much time on their hands,” Aura scoffed as she plucked the last speck of dead leaves out of her hair. “In our time, we didn’t have these devices to listen to music or any of that mess. People would play their music on the side of the road and sometimes in taverns. Why do they need all these fancy gizmos just to listen to some music when all they need to do is go to where the music is?”

“Perhaps they didn’t like traveling so far to listen to live music. Some of them probably are more comfortable listening to it from their own home.”

“Ugh! What a bunch of lazy people!”

“Now you’re starting to sound like an old lady,” Merryl snickered. “Should I grab you a cane too while we’re at it? Or maybe a wheelchair?” Merryl quickly dodged out of the way of the dagger being thrown at her at high speed. She made a quick glance at the bone dagger wedged in the wall then at the irritated witch doctor. Ah right. Aura has an issue with being referred to as old. It would make sense considering she’s from the 15th century but at the same time, Aura died in her late forties. That’s hardly considered an old age. “Hey, I was kidding! No need to hurl one of your daggers at me!”

“You have no room to joke about my age when you’re technically old yourself, young lady,” the deer demon pointed out.

...shit. She had no way of refuting that either because it’s true.

There was an eerie static interference from the radio, drawing their attention from their conversation the two of them were having. Madame Aura recognized this all too well. It appears that broadcaster is going live for their performance once again.

 _[“Greetings and salutations, fellow citizens of Hell!”]_ He began in a bombastic and boisterous voice. _[“Welcome back to the live broadcast of the Radio Demon!”]_

“What the hell?” Merryl questioned as she approached the radio. “That’s weird. Is this part of some live radio show or something?”

Aura watched her redheaded granddaughter stare at the radio in a quizzial manner. That's right. She doesn't know about the periodic interferences between broadcasts. She has been meaning to ask her about that since Merryl’s more knowledgeable with this kind of stuff. She’s been living in the city for long enough; asking her a few things may help clear things up and put her at ease. Aura grabbed the pen and notebook that was close by and brought them over to the counter.

_[“It appears that I’ve made quite a name for myself in the span of weeks upon my arrival. Not a big surprise there since I was a serial killer during my lifetime. However, the only difference is that the rules of the game have changed. Quite interesting to say the least!”]_

“Ugh. This guy sure does love to hear himself talk,” Merryl frowned, already growing bored of the broadcast.

_[“Now… How about we get things started? Perhaps something different this time around.”]_

As usual, the live broadcast started off with a few lines of dialogue before jumping straight into the action with the gory and descriptive scenes that played through the radio. There wasn’t much to write down between scenes. Not a whole lot was coming to her in regards to what medicines or spells to create. Merryl glanced at her grandmother in confusion while the radio played, wondering why she was writing stuff down.

...of course that is what she **_was_** doing until she made an abrupt pause upon hearing a rather sickening squelching sound followed by the tearing of the flesh. The sounds itself also caused the two deer demons to tense up uncomfortably.

 _[“Ahhhhh!!! Help!”]_ the demon screamed in agony and horror. _[“This monster just bit through my torso!! N-no please! Stop! Someone help!! I don’t want to--!!]_

The demon’s plea was quickly silenced by another sickening sound that ripped through the radio. A few moments later, the unknown radio host lets out a sinister chuckle; the type that would send an icy chill down a person’s spine.

 _[“Well, that was an intriguing little snack,”]_ he mused. _[“Not what I’d expect from the taste of demon flesh, but rather unique.]_

“Merryl, please change the station,” Aura requested, cupping her hand over her mouth as she suddenly felt queasy from that implied line of dialogue. “I feel sick all of a sudden.”

Merryl did exactly what she was told and turned the dial on the radio. However, even with the dials turned, the broadcast still played. At first, she thought the dial was broken but it couldn’t have been the case since it was fairly new. At that moment, she realized that something was going on. It wasn’t just one station this particular sinner has taken over.

**_He took over the entire frequency itself._ **

“Merryl, what’s taking you so long? Hurry up and change it!” Aura was becoming more insistent the longer the broadcast played. She was fine handling all of the bloody and gory scenes, but not when it came to the debauchery of cannibalism. She hated it more than anything and for a good reason.

The red-headed deer demon resorted to turning the radio off but as she brought her fingers over to the switch, she felt a small shock to her finger tips. She yanked her hand away from the switch and yelped in pain.

“What the hell was that?” Merryl wondered to herself.

She rubbed the tips of her fingers soothingly, still puzzled about what just happened. There was no way that shock was a coincidence. Not when she tried to turn it off. To confirm her suspicions, she moved her hand over the switch just inches away from it. She gradually moved it closer until she felt that same shock to her fingers, wincing in pain as she pulled her hand away. Just as she thought. That was no coincidence; that was intentional. Whoever is broadcasting live wants to make sure **_everyone_** in Hell is listening to each and every scene that played out. But how is this sinner doing it?

“Hey, Grandmother? When’s the last time you’ve changed the station manually?” she questioned, slowly moving away from the suspicious radio.

"Hm? What are you going on about now?" The witch doctor stood up from her seat and stroller up to the taller deer demon in front of her.

"I think the radio's possessed," Merryl said, pointing at the device with a wary expression. "I can't even turn the damn thing off without getting zapped."

"Ugh, Merryl. You're over-exaggerating. There's no way it's possessed. If that's was the case, I surely would have--"

She waved her hand over the radio by accident, causing a sudden dark burgundy glow around her hand. She stared at her right glowing hand, knowing fully well what this could possibly mean. But how can this kind of magic reach so far into the forest where there's no connection to the city? Not to mention, who has this kind of power to pull off this kind of feat?

Something's not right. Whatever this magic is, it's like nothing she has seen before. Although, one thing that she does know is that it's black magic.

"Um, Grandmother? You're making that face where you just realized something's up." Merryl pointed out, leaning over the counter to view Aura's cold and worrisome expression. "Did you find out about what's going on?"

"Merryl… you're aware of what black magic is, right?" She pulled her hand away and held it close to her chest, perplexed by this foreign magic in front of them. "This is not the same magic that I personally know of. This kind of black magic… it radiates a very dark and bloodthirsty presence."

The witch doctor had a very bad feeling about this particular caster responsible for this unorthodox event. Thinking about it, these "broadcasts" may not even be staged after all. They may be something much worse than she could ever imagine. Looks like she's going to have to make a small trip to Pentagram City to get to the bottom of this.

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think of this story! I might keep going on and post more of it.


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